Happy Birthday Betty Odell from your friends at Susan Odell Taylor School

We are proud of our 8^th Grade Graduates! While we are very excited about their futures and so happy for their accomplishments, we will definitely miss them all. Last week we did a “drive-by” to place congratulatory yard signs. As you can see, a few of them were home and caught us in the act. Great job everyone. You make us proud.

Shawna Norton, 7/8 grade Humanities teacher, attended The Moth Teacher's Institute in New York City over  February break. (The goal of The Moth is to further the impact that true, personal storytelling can have on student engagement and school community. Student storytelling can challenge dominant narratives about young people's lives, while developing new ways for students to listen to each other in classroom spaces. Students develop important skills, from social-emotional capacities to critical speaking, listening and narrative skills.) 

Game-Changing Kids: Students in kindergarten through eighth grade recently shared their handmade board games with friends, parents, and community members. The games were the culmination of a three-month Think Tank challenge: Can your team create an enjoyable game where the players learn something new? Games went through a rigorous design/build process - from prototype to playtest to production.

Sage Campus students participate in Arts for Little Hearts: . A unique project, co-founded by two brothers, Tyler and Colin, when they were 12 and 14 years old, to spread hand-made art projects created by children, adolescents and elderly to hospitalized children all over the world. This is the first venture of its kind. See photos from Arts for Little Hearts website of Taylor students at:www.artsforlittlehearts.com

Are you in the mood for a great Valentine’s Day story? You should read “Love Monster,” by Rachel Bright. Kindergarteners loved this fantastic tale. After reading the story, students created their very own monsters with black markers, liquid watercolor.

The 1-2 class spent several weeks learning about Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). They listened to the music of his time including Schoenberg, and viewed the works he created in different stages of his artistic development. Each student created their own, unique work reflecting various elements of his style.

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.'s SIX Guiding Principles, the 3-4 class created meaningful word clouds to spread the message of tolerance, acceptance, and equality.